The Biden Administration extends protection against deportations to almost half a million Venezuelans

The Joe Biden Administration announced this Wednesday the renewal and expansion of the immigration permit known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans, which would allow 472,000 people to work and reside legally in the United States.

The measure was announced by Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, who determined that an 18-month extension of TPS and a new assignment is warranted due to Venezuela's growing instability and lack of security. The policy provides temporary protection from deportation, as well as employment authorization for people who arrived in the United States before July 31, 2023. Until now, only those Venezuelans who had been in the country since March 2021 could apply for TPS.

“Temporary protected status provides individuals already present in the United States with protection from removal when the conditions in their home country prevent their safe return. That is the situation that Venezuelans who arrived here on or before July 31 of this year find themselves in. Accordingly, we are granting them the protection that the law provides. However, it is critical that Venezuelans understand that those who have arrived here after July 31, 2023 are not eligible for such protection, and instead will be removed when they are found to not have a legal basis to stay,” he explained. Mayorkas.

"There are 472,000 eligible Venezuelans"

TPS applicants will need to demonstrate that they are Venezuelan citizens (or persons without nationality whose last habitual residence was in Venezuela) who have been continuously residing in the United States since at least July 31, 2023 and meet other eligibility criteria.

The Department of Homeland Security detailed that there are currently approximately 242,700 TPS beneficiaries under the existing designation. "There are approximately 472,000 additional Venezuelan citizens who may be eligible under the new allocation," the department said.

The decision is made at a time when the migration crisis continues to deepen. This week, it was learned that a wave of 11,000 illegal migrants crossed the border and entered the small town of Eagle Pass, Texas, which has been forced to declare a state of emergency after being completely overwhelmed.

The city's mayor, Democrat Rolando Salinas, declared that an unprecedented wave of 4,000 migrants crossed the border this Wednesday, which adds to the 2,500 people who arrived in Eagle Pass on Monday, and who also join the approximately 7,200 illegal immigrants who were detained the previous week.

To give it more perspective, the wave of 11,000 migrants, most of them from Venezuela, represents almost half of the population of Eagle Pass, which is about 29,000 inhabitants according to the last census.